I went to the farm Saturday. Got there about 9am, stayed until 2:00ish. I did not mow, it really didn't need it and really it was just so hot, I had to pick my battles. The choices were mow, clean up the orchard area, edge, or start cleaning up the garden.
Of course I watered everything first but the heat was so overwhelming, I had to pick one and I chose garden.
This was one of the raised beds where the weeds just took over. There are four of these 4x4 beds that are overgrown and part of the larger 4x8. The beds that have the veggies are still producing (more on that tomorrow). I started with this one.
I could only work in about 20 minute increments with 10 minute breaks on the porch in the shade. Unfortunately, no machine to help (a weed eater would throw it all around the place) so it all had to be done by hand. This was the weed pile about halfway through it.
But when it was done, it looked great. It's definitely back to the way it should be. I raked it out and turned the soil and then...
...I covered it up with cardboard. This was before I finished, I did cover up the other corner and put more bricks on it. When I was done, I started on the bed next to it. I got it about half done but by then I was exhausted. There was a lot of back and forth and then the watering and back to the shed a few times...
Saturday...
Sunday...
...and I just called it quits for the day. You can see the weekend temps. This is just about 24 hours apart, Saturday and Sunday around 3pm but temps out there were "feels like" of 108 to 110 degrees both days. This coming weekend will definitely be mowing and I'll see if I can get the other raised bed finished too and that will feel like an accomplishment.
August is what we like to call "the month of doing as little as possible" because it's just so hot.
Hope you had a good weekend and stayed cool!
UGH! That is the only word for working in the humid sweltering sun!
ReplyDeleteOh my ... the dog days of August ... you really get them down there in Texas!
ReplyDeleteCan you try to mow and do other yardwork earlier in the day ... before the real heat of the day settles in?
Just stay hydrated!!
Not only do weed eaters throw stuff all over, they do little to lessen the number of weeds unless you whack them frequently. A concept DH doesn't seem to understand.
ReplyDeleteThat's waaay to hot to work in the yard/garden for long. Then I remember farm workers and anyone else required to be outside working no matter what.
The smartest thing you did was breaks often that included water. There is only so much a person can do and stay well. If those beds dry out before you weed another, wet them down to "loosen" the weeds.
ReplyDeleteI need to mow my front yard but it is way too hot. The rains continue. When Franklin and Penelope go out, I join them for a few minutes to pull a couple of weeds or swing around the weed whipper where the mud is so bad that I can't use the mower. It's a long summer.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
Great job on your clean-up of part of your garden – that was a lot of work in miserable weather. The cleaned bed looks so neat. Glad you put down cardboard on it to keep the weeds and grass from returning.
ReplyDeleteI’m glad you didn’t try to do all of them. In this heat, you would have gotten very sick. Remember, slow and steady wins the race!
Them there are some pretty nice darn weeds! At least you know your soil can grow stuff.
ReplyDeleteYou've gotten a good start but looks like you could use a couple of handy helpers to help out.
ReplyDeleteSunday evening, (around 7pm) we had a very nice shower of rain and then it quit but started up in the very early morning hours on Monday..........very gently rain. It sounded so nice the rain hitting the house roof.
In total we received 1&1/2 inches, plus also enjoyed the somewhat cooler temperature yesterday.
Take care, stay safe & keep cool